This wasn’t just the game the Kansas City Chiefs defense needed but it was the game that they wanted to have heading into the bye week.
The much-maligned Kansas City Chiefs defense stepped up in a big way against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11.
They combined for 69 tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss, four interceptions and 12 passes defended on the evening. They held the Chargers to 5-of-15 on third-down conversions. They allowed just one touchdown to the Chargers in four trips to the red zone. It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means, but they were able to help the Chiefs to a much-needed victory in primetime.
One of the defensive leaders that led the charge was defensive end Frank Clark. He perhaps embodied the embattled and often criticized Chiefs’ defense, because his production hadn’t quite been what fans had expected. Clark explained that it took faith in each other and a lot of hard work from him and his fellow defensive lineman to come up with this type of game.
“I love my defensive line, man,” Clark said following the game. “There’s nothing that I can do without them. We go to work every week. We go through all the difficult times and we go through the turmoil and people are doubting us. It just felt good to be able to go out there with my D-Line and get the job done, man.”
It wasn’t just the defensive line that got things done for the Chiefs on Monday night. Communication and execution were in sync throughout the defense, from the front end to the back end.
“Our job as a defense is to go out there and force as many three-and-outs as possible,” Clark said. “Get off the field on third down and make plays and force turnovers. I believe that just collectively as a defensive unit we did that tonight…”
This is the type of performance that the Chiefs can ride with an important five-game stretch of the schedule coming up for Kansas City. Leaders like Clark and Tyrann Mathieu are now tasked with harnessing that momentum and ensuring it lasts through the bye week.
“It’s a confidence boost for us,” Mathieu said. “Especially with how we finished the game last week. Then understanding and realizing the kind of football that we need to play going forward. We’ve got Oakland (Raiders) whose hot right now, and then New England (Patriots). So we’ve got some teams that we need to understand our momentum and take advantage of our momentum. I thought tonight was beautiful. I thought Rashad (Fenton) stepped up, made some big plays and Dan (Sorenson) that interception in the endzone was just so sweet…”
For some of those young players like Rashad Fenton, they’re taking cues from the veteran leadership on the defense. Fenton credited guys like Clark and Mathieu for getting the team prepared for this game and keeping the energy up throughout it.
“We got 55 (Frank Clark) back and he was just amped the whole week,” Fenton said. “He was putting the pressure on us and if he was putting the pressure on us, you know he was putting the pressure on the D-Line as well. So we already knew coming into the game that the front seven was going to be on their job and that it was going to be on us to end it.”
This unit has been able to stick together and grow in spite of a lot of noise and criticism from the outside. Even though the game got away from them against Tennessee in Week 10, the entire defense showed determination in not allowing this crucial game in Mexico City against the Chargers to slip away too.
“Yeah, I think it’s all about really staying together through the ups and the downs,” Mathieu said. “And we have been able to do that defensively. It felt like before last week we were playing pretty decent defense and then last week we kind of let the game get away from us. And so we absolutely wanted to be in this situation again. And I thought we responded well. I thought we responded the right way. And so like I said, I’m really happy that my guys came up with the big play.”
The defense wanted their crack at redemption and they were able to show it during Monday night on the NFL’s biggest stage.
